Eden Alene (; ; born 7 May 2000) is an Israeli singer. Having won the seventh season of the singing competition ''

HaKokhav HaBa ''HaKokhav HaBa'' ( he, הַכּוֹכָב הַבָּא, translated as "The Next Star"; formerly ''HaKokhav HaBa LaErovizion'', ''Rising Star to the Eurovision'') is an Israeli interactive reality singing competition, which was first broadcast ...

'', she had been set to represent

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

, with her song "

Feker Libi "Feker Libi" () is a song recorded by Israeli singer Eden Alene, performed in English, Amharic, Hebrew and Arabic. It was planned to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. It would have been the first Eurovision entry to contain ...

", planned to be held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. After the cancellation of the 2020 contest due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, she was internally chosen to represent Israel in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the ...

, this time with " Set Me Free".

Early life

Alene was born in the neighborhood of

Katamon , settlement_type = Neighborhood of Jerusalem , image_skyline = בית רה"מ לוי אשכול ברחוב בוסתנאי 3 בשכנות קטמון בירושלים.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = House ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, to Ethiopian-Jewish parents who immigrated separately to

during the aliyah from Ethiopia. When she was two years old her parents divorced. Since then, she has not been in contact with her father. Alene attended religious Jewish elementary school and middle school, although she then attended the

secular Jewish Secular Jew may refer to: * A general epithet for Jews who participate in modern secular society and are not stringently religious * Nonreligious Jews, including nonaffiliated, agnostics, etc. ** Jewish atheism ** Cultural Judaism * ''Hiloni ...

high school of the

Hebrew University Secondary School Hebrew University High School ( he, התיכון ליד האוניברסיטה), commonly known as ''Leyada'' (literally "next to"), is a semi-private high school in West Jerusalem, established in 1935 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The ...

and majored in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. She was enlisted in October 2018 as a soldier in to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and served in the

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

of the

Education and Youth Corps The Israeli Education and Youth Corps ( he, חיל החינוך והנוער, ''Heil HaHinuh VeHaNo'ar'') is the IDF Manpower Directorate corps responsible for the education of soldiers and commanders in Israel's military. It is designed to instruc ...

. She received an honorable discharge in October 2020. She was in a relationship with her Israeli boyfriend, Yonatan Gabay. The two broke up in February 2022. As of 2022, Alene had stopped working in the music industry, and currently works as a hostess in a restaurant in Tel Aviv.

Career

In October 2017, Alene was a contestant in the third season of the singing competition '' The X Factor Israel''. She auditioned with the song " Stone Cold" by Demi Lovato. In January 2018, she won the season finale. In April 2018, she performed a song by

Arkadi Duchin Arkadi Duchin ( he, ארקדי דוכין, russian: Аркадий Духин, Arkadiy Dukhin; born 1 June 1963) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musical producer. Biography Arkadi Duchin was born in Babruysk, Belarus. He immigrated to Isra ...

at the torch-lighting ceremony that opened the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. In December 2018, she released her debut single "Better". In 2019, she took part in an Israeli production of the musical '' Little Shop of Horrors''. In February 2019, ahead of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

held in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

, Alene released a cover of the song "

Save Your Kisses for Me "Save Your Kisses for Me" was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, performed for the by Brotherhood of Man in The Hague, Netherlands. The lyrics and music were written by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden, and Martin Lee, the latter two ...

" by

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initi ...

, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1976. In March 2019, she released her second single, "When It Comes to You", which was produced by American producer Julian Bunetta.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 2019, she participated in the seventh season of the Israeli singing competition ''Rising Star'' (''HaKokhav HaBa''), achieving first place on 4 February 2020. As the winner, she was supposed to represent

in the

to be held in

. The four finalist songs for her were "Savior in the Sound", "Roots", "Rakata" and "Feker Libi". Eventually the song "

" was picked, which contains four languages English, Arabic, Hebrew and Amharic. However, on 18 March 2020, the event was cancelled due to the

ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Israel

On 22 March 2020, it was announced that she had been internally chosen to represent Israel in the

. In January 2021, her three songs one of which is the candidate for the final are "Ue La La", "La La Love" and "Set Me Free". Eventually, on 25 January 2021, the song "Set Me Free" was picked. On 18 May 2021, she performed 12th during the first semi-final, following Belgium and preceding Romania. She qualified to the final on 22 May. In addition to that, she broke the all-time record for the highest note in Eurovision history, hitting a B6 whistle note during the first semi-final of Eurovision 2021.Israel's Eden Alene qualifies for Eurovision final
Israel HaYom In the final, she scored 93 points, finishing 17th out of 26.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alene, Eden 2000 births Living people 21st-century Israeli singers Israeli people of Ethiopian-Jewish descent Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2021 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Israel The X Factor winners Musicians from Jerusalem People from Kiryat Gat Hebrew-language singers Amharic-language singers